9 Companies Bid For Contract To Haul Lehigh County Trash

June 26, 1990|by MARTIN PFLIEGER, The Morning Call

Nine companies have bid for the right to get rid of Lehigh County's trash for at least the next five years under a countywide solid waste management plan, the Solid Waste Advisory Board announced yesterday.

All but one of the companies would dispose of the trash at landfills or incinerators.

Under Act 101, Pennsylvania's recycling law, counties have until April 1991 to draw up waste management plans.

Agripost is the only company using alternative technology; that is, a waste disposal method other than landfilling and incineration. It shreds and composts garbage and plans to market the product as a substitute for peat moss and fertilizer.

Lehigh County is seeking a 10-year contract that would allow it to back out after five years to pursue alternatives to burying or burning the 254,000 tons of trash it generates annually.

Stricter regulations and growing public opposition have hindered construction of more landfills, and space in existing facilities is dwindling. Similarly, proposed incinerators here and around the country have been opposed by grass-roots environmental groups and municipalities who fear they will emit toxic pollutants.

James Creedon, director of planning and development for the county, yesterday sought volunteers from the board to begin researching some of those alternative technologies. The group will begin meeting by summer's end.

The board's request for proposals was not aimed at attracting new technology, which angered a local resident who directs sales for a business that sorts recyclables from garbage.

Alfred A. Siess Jr., marketing director for S.W.I.N. Resource Systems Inc. of Bloomsburg, and a founder of Saucon Association for a Viable Environment, said the county should reject all nine bids and advertise again. The county should allow municipalities to contract for proven and reliable alternative technology now instead of in five years, Siess said.

But Ron DeIaco, co-chairman of the board and mayor of Alburtis, said the board wanted to attract companies with a five-year track record. Most companies using new technology haven't been in business that long, he said.

DeIaco said the board wanted proposals from companies that are environmentally safe, economically prudent, fiscally sound and technically proven. But, he said, the board is committed to investigating alternative technology.

And apparently there is a lot of it out there. Last fall the board conducted a national search for waste disposal concepts and received 45 proposals -- 35 for alternative technology, according to Creedon.

In related business yesterday, the board discussed a plan for promoting the Solid Waste Advisory Board and its mission.

Through television, radio, newspapers, presentations and speeches, the board must tell the public about Lehigh County's role in solid waste disposal, according to Thomas Stoneback, board member and vice president of Rodale Press.

"It should identify and discuss our recycling plan," he wrote in a memorandum to the board. "It should discuss landfill alternatives. It should discuss incineration alternatives. It should discuss our composting program.